PR Scaries: What Haunts Brands (But Doesn’t Scare Us)

By Louie Sosa, PR.0/Marketing Account Director

You’ve heard of the Sunday “scaries,” but what about the PR scaries? That feeling before rolling out a campaign, or waiting for a response, and the thrilling unknowns that come with it.

Some of the more frightening moments in PR that might send a brand into a spiral are often just another day at the office for the PR team.

So, let’s dig into it and pull the masks off these four Scooby-Doo villains.

1. Ghosting: When the Media Don’t Respond

You sent the pitch. You followed up. And then…nothing. You’ve officially been ghosted.

Before you assume your email disappeared into the abyss, consider this: According to Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026 report, 54% of journalists seldom or never respond to PR pitches.

Not because they aren’t paying attention or don’t care, but because journalists receive a steady stream of emails, often with pitches, product announcements and case studies from PR firms and companies just like yours.

Journalists are often working months ahead. Trade publications may be planning 2-3 months in advance, while consumer and shelter publications can be looking 5-6 months out. So even if they don’t respond, your pitch might be filed away for a future story.

Yet 51% of journalists prefer receiving a thoughtful follow-up email within three to seven business days. And that’s what we do as a PR firm: we package up the information, send it over in alignment with the publication’s editorial calendar or writer’s beat, and strategically follow up.

PR is about building relationships with the media. And hey, we understand that sometimes picking up the phone and talking to someone holds its own set of scaries. We’re happy to do that for you.

2. The Unexpected Plot Twist: When an Interview Goes Off-Script

An executive agrees to a media interview, and then comes the question everyone was hoping the journalist wouldn’t ask. Just like in a zombie apocalypse, preparation is key, and you need all the tools available to you before heading into that interview.

For our PR team, preparing clients for media interviews is just another day on the job. We reach out to the journalist, ask about their deadline, and see if we can get any questions in advance. Of course, those questions are just starting points. They’re not the only things a journalist is allowed to ask, and the conversation can go in any number of directions.

That’s why we build an Interview Briefing Guide, complete with interview logistics, a profile of the journalist and their recent coverage, anticipated questions with talking points, and possible curveball questions. We also use PR software, like Cision or Muck Rack, to access a robust media database and provide additional information about the publication, its circulation, and audience.

But preparation doesn’t stop there. We also offer Executive Media Training: not just for individual subject matter experts, but often for an entire room of company leaders. At the end of the training, we put company spokespeople to the test! Executives go in front of our camera, where they are asked a series of questions to help them get comfortable being put in the spotlight – literally. You know the feeling, when your face gets flushed, the room temperature feels sweltering and suddenly all eyes are on you.

One of the ways we prepare executives for these moments is through Curveball Questions. And in the spirit of spooky season, there’s another term for this type of preparation: a murder board. Despite its ominous name, it’s simply an exercise where we put executives through the difficult, confrontational or leading questions they hope they won’t be asked.

3. The Competitor Jump Scare: When Your Rival Gets the Spotlight

It’s rough when your boss wants your company featured in a particular industry trade magazine, and suddenly your competitor is featured in their Top 10 Products roundup, and your brand isn’t included.

First things first: In the world of journalism, publications aren’t going to feature the same brands month after month just because they’ve had a great relationship with them. Depending on the outlet and the type of coverage you’re pursuing, you might only land one feature a year, maybe two. Journalists need to cycle through different brands and products to give their readers a variety of options.

There’s also another reality of the industry: paid and earned media have blended quite a bit. Some brands that advertise with a publisher may also receive additional opportunities for visibility through sponsored content, advertorials or other paid placements.

That’s why we consider all the different Points of Brand Interaction (PoBI) and how paid media can complement earned PR. Sometimes that means running a paid feature, e-blast or other advertising opportunity that complements the relationships we’ve built with editors.

So don’t lose sleep over it; this isn’t Elm Street. Sometimes your competitor is simply getting their turn in the editorial calendar. Other times, they may have invested in additional paid opportunities.

4. Trade Show Terror: When the Media Don’t Show Up

You’ve spent months preparing for a major trade show. Your booth is ready, your executives are standing by and your PR firm has been coordinating with journalists who have expressed interest in stopping by.

The show opens, and four hours later, not a single journalist has come through your booth.

Terrifying, right? Not necessarily.

One of the biggest things that can throw brands off during trade shows, especially major events like the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) or International Builders’ Show (IBS), is that media don’t always set specific times to stop by. And when they do, they almost never show up at the time they’ve selected.

Trade Shows are buzzing and people get caught up in meetings, speaking engagements, and other obligations. And when the show is in Las Vegas, as it will be in 2027, let’s just say some mornings may get off to a slower start than others.

For this reason, our agency likes to secure “stop-by” meetings, meaning a journalist has expressed interest in visiting your booth but has the flexibility to come through whenever their schedule allows.

To prepare, we develop an Executive Media Guide (EMG), complete with profiles and relevant information on the journalists and publications we’ve been coordinating with. This helps our clients recognize and connect with them if and when they do stop by the booth.

We may have 30 media confirmed on the schedule and outlined in the EMG, all representing journalists we’ve had real conversations with, but the reality is that they are often juggling dozens of competing requests.

Some of the best media relationships are built through What We Do In The Shadows: the conversations between sessions, the impromptu meetings in the media lounge, or sitting down for pizza in the hallway.

Paid opportunities, such as sponsoring the IBS Media Lounge or participating in a Hard Hat Media Tour, can also create opportunities for more intimate conversations with journalists who might otherwise be difficult to reach during a busy show.

And if a journalist doesn’t stop by, we may have provided the necessary information and product imagery before the show even began.

The ROI of trade show PR isn’t simply how many journalists physically visit your booth or how many pieces of coverage you receive in the first two weeks. It’s about developing relationships – where you’re on a first-name basis with editors and writers, where you can recognize someone walking through the hall, say hello and have a genuine conversation.

You don’t need to pull them into your booth or guilt them into speaking with your marketing executive. That’s not the point.

So, What’s Really So Scary?

What looks like a PR nightmare is often just another Tuesday for your PR team. So take a breath, loop us in, and we’ll handle the scary stuff.

Facing a PR fright of your own? Reach out to us at pr0@merlotmarketing.com.